Game Shinji, 6 to 0
by CrookedSpoon
Summary: Fudoumine/Shinji. In which Kamio falls for Shinji, Uchimura and Mori discuss homosexuality and Ibu remains oblivious to his team's feelings.


**Title**: Game Shinji, 6-0  
**Fandom**: Prince of Tennis  
**Characters/Pairings:** Fudoumine/Shinji  
**Rating**: PG  
**Word Count:** 1105  
**Warnings**: Silliness, lameness  
**Disclaimer**: Standard disclaimers apply.  
**Notes**: Written for LJ comm 100prompts (prompt #05 "Loved"), inspired by teamtheme's Fudoumine month and shinjiappmonth and the personal need for something silly

* * *

_"To be loved is to be fortunate, but to be hated is to achieve distinction._" (Minna Antrim)

When Akira fell for Shinji, he quite literally fell. Onto his hands and knees in front of him. Akira had overslept; so when Shinji turned up to fetch him, Akira, thrown out of rhythm, was a swirl of clothes and books and bags. And feet. He had only two of them, to be sure, but they managed to tangle up _right_ when he was descending the stairs. He still descended them, but painfully, with lots of bumps and thuds and other impacting sounds.

First thing he did when he came to a halt was curse, yes, but that's beside the point. He looked up. He raised his head, and beheld Shinji. It was like one of those events everyone described as "love at first sight" except that this was not the first time he ever laid eyes on Shinji (he couldn't remember that one). Akira didn't know, Akira didn't care, hell, Akira didn't really think about it; he just stared. Calf-eyed, at that. He couldn't help it. He just couldn't help but think of Shinji as _breath-taking_ at that moment (never mind the fact that Akira had knocked the breath out of himself only seconds before), as.. as _radiant_ in his unresponsive detachment, standing in the doorway and frowning down on Kamio.

Akira was frozen, unable to get up, unable to move. Some part of him knew this was not the time to be kneeling about and sorting one's sentiments. But that part was unimportant. What was important now was to ask himself why in the blue fuck he had never noticed, never realized just how _pretty_ Shinji was. His best friend! Someone so close! To think he had been unaware...

Any thought process stopped short (and tripped over itself) at the rustling of Shinji's uniform. Akira snapped out of his trance as his forehead was poked. "What is Akira gaping like a fish for? That's sort of rude, you know." Shinji had squatted down and peered into Kamio's face. Who flushed a deeper shade of red, when he noticed how close they were. "Now's not the time to be making yourself comfortable on the floor. Akira should know that. Can the floor even be comfortable? Nevermind, we should be hurrying to school now. I'm sure the gates are already closed. Geez, what a bother..." 

* * *

"Hey, Kyousuke..."

"Hm?"

"This might be a weird question all of a sudden, but..."

"What is it, 'Nori?"

"Do you... do you think homosexuality is immoral?"

If Uchimura were drinking something, he would have spat it right out. Instead, he hid under his cap to conceal his blush and attempted to change the subject. "You know ethics isn't my strong point." Not very effective, but a beginning.

"That may be so, but... what is your attitude on the subject? Would you... would you think less of an acquaintance or stop liking an idol if you found out they're gay?" Mori was fidgeting, and dividing his attention between Uchimura next to him on the bench and Shinji, who was paired up with Sakurai against Kamio and Ishida. Incidentally, Uchimura was doing the same, except that he did not fidget, he fingered the brim of his cap. And stole glances from beneath it.

"I don't know. I don't think so.. If you're used to liking someone and then having to remind yourself to avoid your friend because of a reason like that... that's just stupid. Unless it affects me personally, of course. Wouldn't want anyone fussing over me because of that, you know."

"I see... cool." Mori nodded, rocking back and forth. Silence reigned again, as they watched the ball bounce back and forth across the net. That is, until Mori could take it no longer and had to continue grilling Uchimura for his opinion. "Then... what do you think about Shinji?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is... do you think he's..."

"A homo? Or interested in you?" He flashed a grin.

Mori jerked. Words accumulated at the tip of his tongue in an effort of denial, but none would come out no matter how much he worked his jaw.

Kyousuke leaned back against the bench. "Who knows. He does have some female looks about him, though I've never seen a girl with such a dispassionate expression on her face."

"Y-Yeah." Mori was finally regaining his voice.

"Well, his orientation is an enigma to me. You would think all that mumbling would disclose those kind of secrets, though I can't tell you if he did. I usually zone out when he starts."

"True." Chuckling at that, Mori scratched his nose. "But the way he always fusses over Kamio-kun... I don't know, it's kind of..."

"Yeah. Makes you wonder whether the two have something going on." Uchimura murmured absent-mindedly.

Mori sighed. "Makes me sort of jealous..."

"Me too..."

* * *

The rest of the regulars shared similar sentiments. Ishida was always entranced by the way Shinji's muscles contracted and extended, or how he was sweating and panting and too breathless to mumble. Those instances he stared during physical training usually made him wish for wider pants.

Sakurai also had a hard time keeping his eyes to himself while they were changing in their tiny clubroom (his belongings were stored directly beneath Shinji's shelf). The constant bumping of bodies didn't help either.

As for Tachibana-san, even he was hard-pressed not to ogle their tensai and always had to fight to keep his blush down. (Maybe that was why people called him intimidating.) He told himself he was just proud to witness Shinji's growth, proud he had accompanied him and all of his men on their way. And it was his duty as team captain to concentrate on all of them and not pick a favorite. No matter how cute they were.

Shinji himself never seemed to notice the awkward silence around him, partly because he was the one who usually made sure it was _not_ silent, and no one had the heart to, well, let him know what's on their hearts. If he knew, he would surely get angry and start mumbling about it "not being fair to keep secrets from him" or him "just wanting to be friends with everyone on the team" or maybe even about him "not being able to choose between the six of them." Wishful thinking. Most likely, Shinji's first remark would be about his tennis. That he did not want their feelings to impair their judgment and continue fighting him seriously. Otherwise he might start wondering if he wasn't a genius after all, but everyone was just going easy on him instead... You know the drill.


End file.
